Numbers: 3.51 Undergrad GPA, 175 (practice)Screwed up my freshman year (2.2), upper division GPA is 3.81 with a clear upward trend, though I know that doesn't help much.3.9 Master's in Accounting, from one of the two top state schools for that particular degree. Aware this also doesn't help much.

Softs: I'm applying for Class of 2016, and when applications roll around I will have two full years of Big 4 Tax under my belt, and will finish roughly three before starting. In all likelihood, I will be a CPA. Outside of that, I'm an upper middle class white kid who's not particularly into helping others or changing the world.

I'm guessing practice tests aren't too accurate in the scores they give at the high end, which would make 175 not a sure thing. I'm pretty confident though, I smashed comparable amounts of face on the GMAT while being relatively under-prepared, and I'm hitting this one very hard. For the sake of the thread, let's assume I score in that immediate area.

The schools I'm looking at are

NWUMichCornellGTownUSCUTVandy

with a particular emphasis on NW since I am after all, a dinosaur. Is this a realistic range? Should I be looking higher/lower? Perhaps consider spending another year as a woefully underpaid capital markets servant? Any particular schools that favor LSAT over GPA and still manage strong placements?

Also an unrelated question if you don't mind, I hate making multiple threads. When evaluating law schools, I look at their placements and consider any private sector jobs at 100+ firms, academic pursuits, or clerkships "doing well"; and conversely public interest, government, small firm and corporate jobs "doing badly", then evaluate how much of the class is doing well. The biggest flaw with this method that I have found is that there are some people who actually want to be doing PI/gov work (needless to say, their priorities don't align with mine). Is there a general estimate I can use for how many willing PI grads are in a class versus how many couldn't get private sector jobs?

Everyone here is just going to tell you to come back with a real LSAT score.

That said, placement data for PI is fairly hard to come by. I recently started a thread about detailed employment data, and some of the schools contained in that post differentiate between legit PI jobs and those funded by the law school, which might be a start: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=174447

thetaxman wrote:Also an unrelated question if you don't mind, I hate making multiple threads. When evaluating law schools, I look at their placements and consider any private sector jobs at 100+ firms, academic pursuits, or clerkships "doing well"; and conversely public interest, government, small firm and corporate jobs "doing badly", then evaluate how much of the class is doing well. The biggest flaw with this method that I have found is that there are some people who actually want to be doing PI/gov work (needless to say, their priorities don't align with mine). Is there a general estimate I can use for how many willing PI grads are in a class versus how many couldn't get private sector jobs?

This is an absolutely incorrect way to assess employment data. PI/Gov are not, generally, fall backs for people who couldn't get into firms. No, there is no way you can tell who wanted it vs. who is doing it because they are "doing badly", but... you are making a hugely flawed assumption. Even if you have 0 interest in PI/Gov.... no.

Like you have acknowledged, gauging your changes without a real LSAT score is meaningless, but if you can get at or around 175, you should easily get into all the schools you listed.

Don't like to encourage people with hypo LSAT scores, but you should make sure to plan things out to give you enough time to retake the LSAT if necessary and apply to schools early (if you are getting a 175+ on PTs you are capable of getting a real one). If you do get a 175 or better, you are probably into NYU/CLS. The other T14 schools can be wonky, especially if you apply late and/or don't do Why X school? type essays for them. Unlike NYU/CLS, the lower T14s don't need 175+ LSAT scores so it doesn't help balance out your GPA as much. NYU/CLS love 3.5-3.7 GPAs and 175+ LSATs because they know those people probably won't get into YHS and to maintain their numbers they need at least 100, 175+ scorers each.